Another year over, the new one...about to begin

I was going to write 10 good 10 bad, but I ran out of good things(and some of them are a bit weak) and the bad things kept increasing.... :-)

 8 good

1. Holiday to Florida - the boys loved it!
2. Holiday to Disneyland Paris for the festive season -the boys loved it!
3. Trip to ThomasLand @ Drayton Manor - the boys loved it!
4. Becoming an uncle twice (and a god parent too) to two nieces
5. Raising 325US$ for charity just for growing a beard for 6 weeks
6. Spanish Sahara by Foals - top tune!
7. Getting a cool HTC smart phone
8. Toy Story 3 - almost made me blub!

10 bad

1. Mum in hospital - close call (she's okay now)
2. Death of close friend's son at 3 days old (hence the beard charity work)
3. Passing away of Uncle Harry
4. Nothing published (okay, not been pushing hard this year, mainly 'cos I've not had time to write)
5. Continued weight increase (about somewhere between 1 1/2 and 2 stone - not good)
6. Lots of things breaking down and needing repairing/replacing - car, microwave, washing machine, tumble dryer, bed, porch roof, Christmas tree lights, drainage cover, .....etc etc.
7. Deal to buy a business did get off the ground due to the seller's "odd" behaviour
8. Car crash on way to airport
9. Administrative errors on US customs biometric records - still not sorted an error from 2006!
10. The battery life on my new phone!

I'll probably add and amend as and when I get more time to think about it. Put it this way, this list was thrown together quickly.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

Silver surfer!

I sprayed the beard silver for work today, hoping to encourage people to donate to charity.

Unfortunately it didn't encourage any more donations but I'm pretty pleased with the modest amount raised in a short space of time and would like to thank all who were kind enough to want to help children suffering from life-threatening illnesses by donating to East Anglian Children's Hospices.

The donation page is still open for a few more days (i.e. until the beard goes away at the start of ther New Year) - http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/MarkTowers


I think I said it yesterday, but I'll say it again....MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Cripes, the year has flown by

I think I'll leave the yearly summary until after Christmas. Afterall, there's still another week until the end of the year.

So, as I probably won't get much time to blog tomorrow I'll take the opportunity to wish everyone (and I mean everyone!) best wishes over the festive holiday.

If you indulge in gift exchanges I hope you get want you were hoping for. and if you don't, then don't be too disappointed - you might find it in the sales!

I've pretty much got everything I want and need in life. Married to a wonderful person, and have two of the smartest and beautiful little boys (yes, the same 2 I moan about on this blog), all my original teeth, a house, a job within walking distance and a Football team (currently) in the Premier League.

So, I ask for very little at this time of year, preferring to give instead. If you too also feel you can spare a few pounds at this time of year please donate to East Anglian Children's Hospices via my giving page.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/MarkTowers

Merry Christmas!

Classic from Ben

As we drove home this evening Ben shouted,"Kiss me, I'm a frog!"

I'm guessing it's from a TV programme or an advert for a movie?

Reminder

it's been a fairly busy blogging week (for me) and as a result the post containing the link to ny charity page raising funds for the East Anglian Children's Hospices (EACH) has been pushed down the page.

For those of you who haven't read that post EACH help children (and their families) who are suffering from life-threatening illnesses.

Top 5 Favourite Christmas Songs?

Christmas (baby please come home)- Darlene Love
Do you hear what I hear? - Andy Williams' version
Little Saint Nick -The Beach Boys
Merry Christmas Everybody - Slade
I want an Alien for Christmas - Fountains of Wayne

Tell me yours!

Beard side-effect

One the reasons I originally cited for growing a beard was the cold weather. Indeed, that is true. I'm pretty sure that the cold spell influenced my thinking when we returned from Euro Disney 3 weeks ago.
However, there is an unwanted side effect of facial hair during sub-zero temperatures; condensation.

Moist particles (particularly from breathing out through the nostrils!) attach themselves to the beard, making one self-conscious about possible dampness above the lip! It is a perculiar occurence and not one I was expecting.

When I was 21....

It is probably about 15 years since I left my face fluff growing for more than 10 days.

Oddly enough that was before Christmas too - I've probably got some photos of this last half-decent attempt stored away in a shoe box in the loft! Maybe if I get some time spare I'll find it, scan it (because it's pre-digital) and post it on here (or on my sponsorship page.)

Beardy weirdy xmas challenge

Yep -I'm going to impersonate a GCSE Geography teacher by growing a beard for the festive period! All I need is a jacket with leather elbow patches and I'm there!

Actually, I'm using my facial fluff for good. I'm hoping to keep it until the end of the year and in doing so will be raising funds for East Anglian Children's Hospices.

the link to my online donations page is below.
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/MarkTowers

Although I'm adverse to having my photo taken (not many on my blog is there!) I will endeavour to take a few update piccies and put them on here. I've already added on as my profile photo on my donation page.

Nursery Nativity

It was Ben's nursery nativity and Christmas party today.

The little fella was dressed as a one of the three Kings, and it totally suited him - a promotion from being my little Prince!

They sang about half a dozen songs (or in Ben's case a dozen words spread over half the songs) which is was pretty good for a bunch of pre-schoolers.

On the way to nursery he warmed up with a quick sing song of "happy birthday" - As it was not anyone's birthday he sang "happy birthday to nobody" - bless!

Guess what's on my Xmas list?

Family Guy Star Wars It's a Trap - sneak preview



Freakin' sweet!

Footy

Like all honest people of the world I'm totally peeved over Fifa's World Cup decision today.

Giving the tournament to Russia send out all the following signals, including:-

• Human rights records in the host nation are not important
• Racism is acceptable (ditto if it had gone to Spain/Portugal)
• Football fans are not considered when making these decisions
• Hooliganism is okay
• Standards of stadia are not important
• The rules of the bidding process (not slandering opponents etc) are there to be broken (just like Putin and the head of the Russian bid did)
• Corruption/bribery pays off

Great signal to send Fifa!

So, I had to chuckle when I saw this.
http://strayving.blogspot.com/2010/12/corruption-at-fifa_02.html

I think it's time we took our ball (a proper one, not the stupid Jabulani) back and start from scratch with a fair governing body (okay, the FA ain't great but they're better than the rest). this way we won't have idiotic rules made up by some crazy Swiss despot (Sepp Fatter) who has never played the game and doesn't even understand the rules.

Rant over! :-)

Christmas isn't far away!!!!

So, here's some gift ideas!

Snort funny!

Ben made up his first "knock knock" joke the other day.

Ben: Knock Knock
Me: Who's there?
Ben: Pig
Me: Pig who?
Ben (points at me): There!

As ever I thought of the witty riposte too late - Cheeky little swine!

Okay, he's not quite grasped the concept of knock knock jokes, but it was so out of the blue that it was quite funny so laughed quite a bit. He now tells it at every opportunity and howls with laughter to encourage his audience to laugh too!

Flock

Whilst driving around Norwich on Sunday I pointed our a large white French Poodle to Ben, my 2 year old.

His response was (quite sincerely) "I want a sheep!"

I tweet!

Yeah baby! Last week I decided to start tweeting.

I've resisted for a while because I'm stilll fond of full length blogging, even though it means I sit here for long periods of time pondering what to blog (and then realising how boring my life is when no subject crops up!) but I've always been evangelical about the power of this interweb-thing, so I do need to play at being a tweeter in order for work purposes.

I don't think tweeting will take away from this blog because tweets are more sput of the moment (like the fire at Zizzi's pizza restaurant in Norwich today) whereas this blog is often a reflection of the day or days gone by.

So, my most recent tweets will appear on this blog (at ths side) and you can follow me @originalmajato. I kept it the same as this blgo because it's nice and easy to remember and because there are many pretend majato's but there can only ever be 1 originalMaJaTo.

There's a shark in the park!!!

In the absence of anything worth blogging about I figured I'd stick this in. My boys love it (and I do too!)

don't you hate it...

...when your tapping away on the keyboard when suddenly most of what you have typed disappears, possibly because your hand came within a few millimeters of the mousepad on your laptop?

Not too bad when you are writing in Word, Powerpoint etc, but when it's a rant on your blog it doesn't seem to allow you to "undo"

I can't be arsed to retype the rant, which was a pop at Ebay (shock, horror)

Uncle Harry

Just wanted to post a quick link to some articles relating to the recent passing away of my Uncle Harry in case any members of my family are reading.

http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/tributes_to_norfolk_lifeboat_hero_killed_in_tragedy_1_662078

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/localnews/Tributes-after-longserving-lifeboatman-dies.6565712.jp

http://www.rnli.org.uk/wcm/site/pages/access/media/printableVersion.aspx?article=612791&transform=425588

Yay for October

I was tempted to explain to Luke that October has its origins with the latin number 8 (octó), which can also be found in words such as Octopus and Octagon.

He kinda likes languages so I would've mentioned some foreign numbers that are similar, such as:-
Ocho - Spanish
Acht - German /Dutch
Otto - Italian
Oito - Portuguese
Agt - Afrikaan
οκτώ - Greek

However, to do so I would need to explain why October is the 10th month, not the eighth. I'll leave that one for now.

10 is the magic number

I set out to achieve double figures this month, but a couple of weeks of blog absenteeism almost jeopardised this modest ambition.

So, here I am, writing my 10th post in September purely so I can reach achieve this feat.

Is that cheating? Yes.

Do I care? No.

Will I match or even exceed 10 posts next month? Unlikely.

Normally I like food....

...but right at this moment it is not my friend.

On Friday night we drove up to Hull in order to see relatives and go to an afternoon barbecue at a friends' house.

I didn't feel at hungry as I normally do at these occasions (remember: food is my friend) but still enjoyed the occasion with a plate of well cooked (maybe even over-cooked) meats, and a couple of slices of cake.

D took the first stint driving home. . As we progressed my stomach felt bloated, and I felt nauseous. I tried to hold it in, but after less than an hour I desperately needed to stop for fresh air.  Unfortunately that wasn't all I needed to stop for! I only just made it to a tree before heaving. Not once, but three times. I just hope there weren't any CCTV cameras in Lincoln. Someone was watching - Luke. He decided that he now felt sick and the next time we stopped he tried to wretch!

The journey is normally fairly long (about 4.5hrs with a couple of pitstops) but this time it felt longer than ever. I felt rough for entire journey, needing to stop frequently, especially as another part of my body wanted to be in on the action!!!!

I've spent most of the day resting on the couch and still feel really rough, my stomach is bloated and, ahem, normal service has not resumed yet. My throat feels really rough too, probably from all that heaving.

And the working week starts tomorrow. Joy.

Pope off

Firstly, an apology to any of my friends reading this who are religious. You know I respect you and your society, and it is this respect I hope to receive in turn despite my atheism - I believe I do receive this from you. This post refers to a distinct lack of respect not only to my Country (England) but also to my belief (well, the lack of!) from someone with a white hat who should know better.

Those of you who know me will realise I keep opinions to myself, going on with the philosophy of letting others live their lives as they so choose. When I first heard that the Pope was coming to the UK I was not overly fussed. After all, he seems a harmless old bloke in a dress. It's not as if he's coming to incite hatred and violence like some other preachers.

However, once I learnt that his visit was to be paid for by UK tax payers my opinion changed. Why? Mainly because the Catholic Church is extremely wealthy and can easily afford to pay for this, but also because the UK's Head of State (Her Royal Maj, EII) is also Head of the Church of England - Protestant, not Catholic. The number of Catholics in the UK is around/less than 1m, out of a total population of 67m - pretty small (and the majority of them are Scottish, who don't pay much tax anyway!)

But, hey, what you do? I had no intention of voicing my complaints about this extra burden on the economy.

But the Pontiff and his cronies has pushed the button today. In a speech by the Pope he associated Atheism with Nazism, and his aide, Cardinal Walter Kasper, has said that "England today is a secularised, pluralistic country. When you land at Heathrow Airport, you sometimes think you'd landed in a Third World country" and his refers to "aggressive Neo-atheism" in England, claiming that we discriminate against Christians.

Let's look at some facts:-

• The Catholic Churches views are no longer relevant to the modern world. They are almost as medieval as Islam
• The Pope is:-
• Opposing the distribution of condoms and so increasing large families in poor countries and the spread of Aids
• Denying abortion to even the most vulnerable women
• Opposing equal rights for lesbians, gay, bisexual and transgender people
• Meddling in children's education - education is state responsibility, not the Church
• Failing to address the many cases of abuse of children by paedophile priests globally
• Trying to bribe people into Catholic faith by offering money (according to Reverend Ian Paisley)
• Pope Benedict was a member of the Hitler Youth, and has in the past quoted Nazi philosophers to back up his hardline views
• The Catholic church lecture people about the sanctity of vows (whether it's marriage or priests' vow of celibacy) but priests involved in sex scandals are regular tabloid events
• The Vatican has Mafia connections (search for books on the Vatican Mafia)
• The Catholic Church deny the rights of women in society. If they had their way women would still be chained to the kitchen sink - no wonder they won't allow women priests!
• It is a fact that the UK Government discriminate in favour of minority faiths and immigrants. Whilst Christians may feel some of this directed at them (crosses banned at school, whilst burqas, nijabs and ceremonial daggers are okay) Atheists also suffer in this and any other society. As a silent and peaceful majority, we have accepted this because of the non-secular history.
• The "discrimination" that Wally Kasper refers to was established under Tony Blairs' government. Blair is a devoted Christian and a Catholic convert!

Atheists are not uncivilised, we are not lacking in morals and we are certainly not violent. As an Atheist I live my life by high moral standards, letting others get on with their lives, hoping they too will keep to accepted world morals. After all, morals are not the sole preserve of religion, and going on the reputation of the Catholic Church, they don't seem to have any morals at all!

Finally, Remember, the majority of wars have been caused by religion - who's the violent aggressive now, Pope?

So, Benedict, Walter and your cronies - you can take a bloody long walk of a very short pier, for Christ's sake!

 There. I said it. Rant over. I encourage people to join this website. http://www.protest-the-pope.org.uk/

Non-dairy creamer cannon

One of my favourite explosions on Mythbusters.



Sounds a bit wierd without Robin Banks doing the voiceover.

I'm reliably informed

...that this song will be played a lot when we next visit Eurodisney.

Local stuff - Norwich Castle

Remember a long time ago I said I'd start sticking the occasional piece in here about Norwich and the surrounding area?

Well, I did a couple of articles and then I forgot about it, until now.

So, I figured I'd prattle on about Norwich Castle. Afterall, it is pretty much the centre piece of the City.

Norwich castle was built in 1067 at the request of William the Conqueror originally as a motte and bailey(mound) with a wooden keep, which was replaced by the current stone keep at the around 1120. The old structure was more about defending an important City such as Norwich (which was the 2nd largest City in England at the time), but the stone castle was originally  a royal palace and later it was used a prison. It has been a museum for the past 126 years.

Birthday treat

Poor little Ben is suffering with the chicken pox- it's keping him awake (which in turn is kee[ing us awake...)

On the bright side, he has a birthday treat to look forward to as I'm taking the family to Disneyland Paris just before his birthday. I've timed it so that we should catch the start of the Christmas festivities. Yey!

I do feel a bit guilty about doing Florida and Paris in the same year (and if we count the Lake District then that's three holidays) but they're only young once and I really want to see their reactions to Disney at Christmas!

Last time we went we caught the winter ice show, which was great (see below) so we know what they're capable of!

Poor ickle fella

Aw, my little Ben has got chicken pox, poor ickle fella!

He was supposed to start at playschool on Monday, now he'll probably have to miss the whole week, and I'll have to work from home a couple of days to look after him.

Everytime we check him he has more spots and none of them are scabbing over yet. Here's a yucky picture to give an idea what his back might look very like soon! I can't take his picture right now because he's asleep.

picture source: http://www.midizone.info/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/chicken-pox.jpg

Mediaeval me

Last bank holiday monday (30th August) we went to Pensthorpe.
If you've seen Springwatch on BBC you'll probably know about Pensthorpe. For those of you who haven't heard about it, Pensthorpe is a nature reserve "set in 500 acres of beautiful countryside with meadows, woodland and lakes." Basically there are lots of waterfowl, and other birds, plus other animals such as red squirrels.

This weekend there was also a "mediaeval spectacular" with people dressed in ye olde garb, knights on horseback, archery, crossbow shooting etc.

I did try my hand at using a simple crossbow (pretty  successfully too). I did fancy having a go at archery (I've done it once before and really enjoyed it) but they only had a kiddies version, so I opted against it.

I also got roped into trying on a knight's helmet - here's a couple of pictures.

They encouraged Sir Chatalot (aka Luke) to wallop me over the head with a sword, demanding more pocket money!

Oh, and here's a bonus picture I found whilst uploading these. It's me again at Pensthorpe showing off my archery skills a few months ago.

Overall, it was a good day at Pensthorpe. the only bad things was the pesky wasps!

Sods Law - part 2

Yep. As predicted on Tuesday, Wednesday (yesterday) was warm and sunny, so packing the pool away was presumptious. A point brought home by the joyful noises of my neighbours' kids as they frolicked in their pool.

Sods law in action

8 weeks ago we put an easy-up pole (10ft wide, great for the kids) in the garden. 8 weeks later and I can count the number of times we've been in the pool on one hand (with a couple of fingers to spare.)

I've spent hours every week fighting a losing battle to keep the darned thing clean, in the hope that perhaps the sun would put his hat on and we'd be saying "hip hip hooray" and doing other mad dogs and Englishmen type stuff. But, oooooooh no, Mr Sun was not in the mood to play. This summer has been very autumnal, and at times somewhat winterish.

So, this weekend I decided it was time for the pool to go. It's supposed to be easy to empty. I say "supposed" but things are never what they are "supposed" to be. After 3 elapsed days, hundred of buckets tossed on to saturated grass(it was raining whilst I did some of this) and some wet clothes I finally finished emptying the pool this evening. I pondered the near hilarious situation of the "law of sod" coming in to play as today has been the sunniest day we've had for weeks. Okay, there was a bit of a chill in the air because it's been quite windy so we wouldn't have gone in the pool. But, what's the betting it is an absolute scorcher tomorrow or for the rest of this week?

Well, the weatherman says sunny and clear 20C tomorrow and Friday with overcast days either side, so I'm okay 'cos these guys are ALWAYS RIGHT. Right? WRONG!

I'm might take a picture of the wonderful momento the pool has left - A 10ft wide brown circle on my previously perfect lawn.

JCB Song

Now, I've posted some really great tunes below, and, yes, here's another.

I consider this a missed opportunity. For many people it rightly reminds of their Dad, especially those who have passed away. For me, I meant to play it to Luke when he was 5. Watch it to find out why (and enjoy the other videos too.)



Okay. That's it for memory lane for now. I'll get back to the rants, observations etcetera on my next post. Honest.

While I'm at it....

Lets have some Darling Buds too from the same year (1990)



...and The Belltower from 1991 (might need to turn the volume up on this one.)



Ok. One last one. This is just Dean and Britta, who I have literally discovered (thanks YouTube) -Britta was in The Belltower - wow. Good stuff.

The one and only Betty Boo

Guess who is sentimental about youth today and has been browsing YouTube again.

Here's a couple of classic tunes from 1990 from brillian Betty Boo (live on Top of the Pops.)





I checked Wiki and Betty only turned 40 this year. Recent videos confirm she still looks great!

YouTube does turn up some gems like these, but you can find some rubbish too. I also found a more recent artist trying to use Betty Boo's name. As the Shamen said, "Naughty, naughty. Very naughty!" - not really a problem though because the imposters video was rubbish (so bad that I won't post it here!)

Heavy head

A couple of weeks ago we were on holiday in the English Lake District. For the majority of the time Ben was on my back in a "backpack thing" or on my shoulders.

One time when carrying him on my shoulders he started to nuzzle his head on the top of my head, trying to get comfortable, chatting away as usual. Then it went quiet and the weight on my head seemed heavier. I caught a glimpse of him in a car window - Ben was asleep. This was reaffirmed a moment later when his head slipped a little and he started snoring in my ear!

I had to chuckle, but not much in case I woke him up! Walking back to the apartment was a tricky balancing act because it was up a very steep path, which is hard enough without a precious little snorer on your head!

Cheryl Cole will be pleased

At last. The kit maker has finally sorted the spelling mistake on the back of Ashley Cole's shirt!

Perhaps he should text this picture to girls instead of pictures of his little winky.

Good luck to Arsenal and Man Utd in the Premiership title race this season.
Lets hope Chelski and Man Sheki fail - they've ruined football and their obscene spending must be stopped.

Laugh? Yep

One of the funniest posts I've read in recent times was on "hyperbole and a half" blog.

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-is-why-ill-never-be-adult.html

Material that I can relate to makes it funnier, for sure!

A friend of a friend of a ....you get the picture

Occasionally I'll hit the "next blog" button on blogger and see where it takes me. Other times I'll go to a friends blog, randomly choose one of their blog links and see what's of interest.

On this occasion I went to my friend Kerry's blog (http://windmillwatching.blogspot.com/) then went to her friend Kate's page (http://world-of-kate.blogspot.com/ -Kate also happens to be from the UK. Wolverhampton to be precise - here's hoping she prefers the stripey [and, ahem, baggier] side of the Black Country football derby! aye aye boing boing!)
From there I ended up somehow "C Jane enjoy it" (http://blog.cjanerun.com/) which then led me to Reagan's blob (http://www.reagansblob.com/) where I dwelled for a while. If you've ever read it you'll know why I spent a fair bit of time at Reagan's blob and why I was moved to write this post despite it being past midnight on a school night ( and I've got an all day workshop tomorrow...!)

Like most blokes I'm hard to move. Bambi and E.T. tried their best to no avail. But kids, well that's something different.

Read all the blogs above. They are all great people with great ways of telling their life stories. But promise me you'll stop by Reagan's and smile at the joy Piper brings to her and Jake's lives.

New look

Following on from the makeover at MaJaTo Scribes I've decided to freshen things up here at Original MaJaTo.

The force moves in mysterious ways

Disney. Star Wars. Florida. 3 things I like a lot.

Put them together and you get Star Tours and the Jedi Training Academy at Disney Hollywood Studios ( still prefer the old moniker of MGM Studios) and every year they have Star Wars weekends too (normally around May/June time.)

A few months ago Luke got to fight Darth Maul at the Training Academy (bad idea- he now thinks he's a trained Jedi!!!!). Unfortunately Ben was too young, which was a shame because he was desperate to fight Darth Vader!!!

Whilst playing around on YouTube for Star Wars related footage I found some of the characters from a Star Wars weekend involved in a bizarre dance-off which someone shot a couple of years ago. I thought I'd post it on here for y'all to enjoy!

Wake up call

6.30am is actually quite late to be woken up by either/both of my boys.

This morning I woke up to find Ben sat next to my head, just below my pillow.

Aw, what a nice way to wake up. That is until I realise he has no pull-ups on. No pull-ups means they've been removed....by him. He has a habit of doing this in the morning, most often after he's done a poo.

On realising this I jumped ot of bed and lifted the somewhat bemused Ben out of bed to reveal a nice "streak" on the bed sheets, just inches from where my head had been!

I dashed through to the bathroom still holding the toddler (he's still only 2) only to find poo smeared on the toilet seat lid and the carpet.

Ok. I'm now wide awake. Thanks Ben.

Busy bit of blogging

Woah, slow down fella!

This has been my must active blogging month since December 2007. Okay this is only the 7th entry but that just goes to show how inactive I've been over the last few years! No doubt normal (i.e 2-4) service will resume next month. So, if you enjoy reading about an fully fledged adult bemoaning his national Football team or you like Kung-Fu Jedi Bears read on!

Actually, I've been ever busier than I've just stated because I also added several old stories and poems on MaJaTo Scribes too!

Some of the boys antics may return to the blog too (whenever I remember to blog about these gems!)

Jedi Bear!

My migrain is (hopefully) going. Hooray!

So, to cheer myself up I found Darth Bear on Youtube.



Okay, now here'w the original without the "special"  effects.


Plus, to prove it's not a one off, the same bear plays with a different stick.



And finally, if you ever need a brief explanation of Star Wars then perhaps this video might help.

Not well

I've got a pesky migraine which started up yesterday morning.

It didn't really help my "enjoyment" of the football (see below)

Phooey

That's it then. It's all over. What a load of rubbish.

Still, there was a moment in the 1st half when things seemed to be on the up. Our worst player on the pitch (Upson) had pulled a goal back to make it to 2-1 (it was a really poor header but it somehow looped in) and we were back on the attack. the ball fell to Lampard and he let rip. The ball cannoned off the underside of the cross-bar and bounced.......1 whole metre over the line and then bounced back into the keepers hands.
I'm jumping, I'm screaming with delight. That is until the referee made the worst decision in football history. Ever. No goal. Bollo*ks!

And the rest is history. Just maybe if we had gone in at half time level we could've pushed on in the second half. Instead we looked as poor as we had in the first 2 matches. Capello's substitutions were both baffling and inept, the back four (after being the most effective part of the team in the first 3 games) were none existent and the whole side seemed drained of all hope.

I guess the early signs were there when the referee actually tackled one of our players and set up a German attack! I cold say that every time the linesman gave us offside they saluted the fuhrer but that would be just bitterness. At the end of the day the Germans played together as a team. The annoying thing is had England played with a bit more togetherness this football match was there for the taking. The Germans aren't as good as they make themselves out to be and looked fallible at the back.

And the stats suggested England were on top. We had more shots on target, more possession, hardly any difference in the number of passes and tackles.

Were we robbed? Maybe. It's all ifs and buts. The only thing I'm sure of is this. The referee and the linesman who failed to spot a clear goal should never be involved in international football ever again. And as for Sepp Fatter Blatter he should hang his head in shame and give up his evil grip on the most powerful job in Football. And if he doesn't I suggest we force him out with a coup. Afterall, we invented the blinking game. I would suggest we take our ball home with us, but the ball just so happens to be a German one and is the worst ball ever made.

Next time, Fifa, give the job of making the World Cup football to Mitre. They make much better Footballs than Adolf Dassler. Here's a decent football for my U.S. readers. Mitre Platinum Football, Official Size 5 (White/Blue)

And here's the world's most advanced ball for UK readers (don't think this is available in U.S. yet, but I'd suggest buying this over the stupid beachball that is the Jubalani.





Right. Rant over. Laters. :-)

Good Luck

Just wanted to wish the England team all the best against Germany tomorrow.

I think it'll be a humdinger of a match between two great footballing sides.

Although our recent record against the Germans at major tournaments isn't great (I'm thinking of 1990 and 1996 particularly) but overall I think the score is 12-12 (and I'm being generous by giving Germany the two draws that they then won on penalties.

Our world cup hasn't been great so far, but I'm forever hoepful that we have a chance.

Writing

Hi all,

Just in case you're interested I've posted some old stories and poems on MaJaTo Scribes, which is also undergoing a design refresh too.

Disappointed

Disappointed, to say the least.

I thought England had done enough to win last night's football match.

Before the absolute howler from Green we looked very comfortable and dominating. Cracking early goal from Stevie Gerrard and he seemed to be playing really well for the first 30 minutes.

But after Green's error, the game seemed flat. England still did most of the attacking, but seemed to lack something.

To be fair, USA were pretty well organised, and hard to break down. That's how they set up their stall (only one player in the squad is classed as a centre forward/striker) so that made it difficult, but there was hardly any threat to Green's goal (only Green himself!)

I blame the damn Vuvuzelas!

Oh well. A draw is a point. So, all we need to do now is spank Algeria and Slovenia and everything will be cushdy.

Beckham gets told off for kicking a football

As we all know, Beckham is out of the worlds greatest competition, Football's World Cup, after he ruptured his achille tendon in March, but he couldn't resist having a few kicks of the ball despite an on-hand medic warning him against it. Footage can be seen at the link below.

Beckham gets told off for kicking a football

I suspect I'm not the only English fan who watched this and thought, bl**dy hell, wouldn't it be great if they announced he was fit before Friday (staight swap for Wright-Phillips.Sorry Shaun.)

Disney

Piccy of us on recent visit to Magic Kingdom - if you click on it you'll see the e-card version with fanfare n'all!

Yay for me

Here's a link to a caption competition I won recently.
http://www.footballfancast.com/caption-competition-gallery/attachment/capcompwinner26feb-2
Of course, like all Football fans (especially English ones!) I'm gutted for Beckham who is unlikely to feature in the World Cup in June because of a torn achilles tendon.

Here's a link to an article for the local newspaper where I took the photo (from the top front seat of a double-decker bus!)
http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/content/eveningnews24/norwich-news/story.aspx?brand=ENOnline&category=News&tBrand=ENOnline&tCategory=xNews&itemid=NOED12%20Mar%202010%2010%3A52%3A07%3A910

I am of course hoping for other things (i.e. stories) to get published this year, but the small amount of kudos for anything published no matter how small is always appreciated :-)

Autism

Here's a really interesting article I read about Autism - well worth a read.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1194841/I-helped-son-beat-autism-making-weetabix.html

I actually found it when searching to see if anyone had ever won anything on the weetabixonemillion competition - I found no one who claimed to have won.....

Anyway, I digress. The article inspired me to find some useful links on autism. My boys are fine but I do know people who do have autistic children and I can only imagine the difficulties they encounter.

http://www.defeatautismnow.com/

http://www.adders.org/natrem_aia.htm

http://www.autism-pdd.net/autism-treatments.html

http://www.whale.to/vaccines/aia.html

Silly sausage

Ben (pointing at me) : Daddy a boy!

Me: S'right. What about mummy?

Ben: Mummy a girl!

Me: Well done. What are you then?

Ben: Ben a boy!

Me: Okay. What about Luke?

Ben (pointing at his brother): Luke's a sausage!!!

Good and sad

Yesterday my brother and his wife were gifted with their second child; a little girl. So, now they have a son and daughter, and I'm pleased that they got what they wanted.

However, this good news was massively over-shadowed when I heard the tragic news that a close friend's wife gave birth to their first born on the 5th but he passed away 3 days later. I'm absolutely gutted for them because I know they will be great parents and I was so keen to see little Harrison playing with Luke and Ben one day. My thoughts are with them at this difficult time.

Shark!

I felt the need to dig around for footage of rare sharks earlier (like ya do!) and when I saw this I had to post it.

It's a "Deep Sea Frill Shark" - I remember seeing it on the news a few years ago (I took a picture of Luke stood in front of the TV because I thought this shark looked super-cool!)

Not happy with Ebay

I went to sell a couple of DVDs earlier and was informed that I had to post them for free because all the big businesses who sell 99.99999% of DVDs on Ebay do so.

Pardon my french, but the cheecky beggers at Ebay can kiss my spotty botty. I may as well just send a cheque to Ebay and throw the DVDs in the bin.

For info

happy new year and all that Jazz.

Sorry, I don't have time for proper blogging as usual.

Just thought I'd mention a new (i.e. old) poem has been added over at MaJaTo Scribes